tachibana makoto / I
theme song: Song for You by Alexi Murdoch

You lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling. As you listened to the rhythmic sounds of the ticking clock on the wall beside the bedroom door, you sighed. Your hand moved across your stomach, trying to feel if there was any specific roundness to your not flat tummy. Another sigh. You drummed your fingers around your belly button. The fan blew quietly across the room. Almost impatiently, you let out a huff and sat up. A hand ran through your messy hair. Staring up at the clock, you read it to be 12:58. 12:59, now that you had been staring for a few seconds. You crossed your legs, still feeling your pudgy belly for any sign...

"...Mmm?"

You worriedly looked to your left. Makoto gently stirred in his sleep, before opening his droopy green eyes to look up at you.

"Oh...? (Name)-chan, what are you doing up so late..?"

Your eyes widened. "M-Makoto!" you whispered. You gently placed a hand on his cheek, brushing his hair out of his face before giving him a cheap smile. "I just woke up suddenly, is all. Go back to bed."

"Suddenly... wake up?" he mumbled tiredly. Rubbing at his eyes, he continued, "You never do that. Is... something wrong?"

You shook your head. "No, nothing. Don't rub your eyes, Makoto, it'll be harder for you to fall back asleep-"

He sat up on his elbow. "(Name), what's wrong?" he asked quietly, now fully awake.

You sighed. "I said it was nothing."

"Your face is sad. It doesn't look like nothing," he said in concern. His warm olive eyes wandered down your arm until he saw the hand placed on your stomach. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion. You quickly slipped your hand into your lap. You sighed.

"Is it this hard to get pregnant for every woman?" you asked yourself. "We've been trying for several weeks now. I'm worried. I haven't felt sick, and I'm not missing my period. I want to be sick. I want to be late." You felt your face heat up as a stinging feeling rose in the back of your throat. You hiccuped. "It's really scary, Makoto."

He nudged closer to you at the sound of your sobbing, wrapping his large arms around you. He enveloped you in a tight hug, where your shoulders raised and dropped rapidly to coincide with your various hiccups and quiet coughs and cries. "Don't be worried. There's nothing wrong with you. You're fine. We're just unlucky, is all."

You couldn't contain your sudden fit of weeping coughs, louder than the rest. "Are we? What if I... What if I can't?" Your voice drifted off. "I never thought.. it could ever happen to me. We've been lucky with everything else so far, it's scary to think-"

He shook his head, rubbing his cheek against your hair. "Then don't think about it. There is nothing wrong with you."

"How do you know?"

Pulling away, he sweetly kissed your cheek. "You may not believe me, but I promise you. I know."

You sniffed. "...I'm sorry I'm keeping you up."

Makoto wrapped his legs around you, drawing you closer. He slowly rocked side to side."It's okay." He kissed the top of your head. "I'll stay up with you until you calm down."

"I just want to show you that I want to spend the rest of my life with you, grow old with you, make you happy," you mumbled into his warm chest, trying to pace your breathing.

Makoto squeezed you tighter, letting a happy smile grace his lips as he closed his eyes. "You're doing completely fine."